ONE OF THE CRIMINALS who were hanged taunted him, saying, 'Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!' But the other rebuked him, saying, 'Have you no fear of God? For us it is plain justice, but this man has done nothing wrong.' And he said, 'Jesus, remember me when you come in your kingly power.' And Jesus said to him, 'Today you will be with me in Paradise.'"
We can imagine the soldiers smiling as simple men do when they encounter the unforeseen—these three criminals with their swollen tongues, like frogs croaking to each other of Paradise.
- Originally published in The Magnificent Defeat
